Here’s some encouraging news from Major League Baseball.

One of the Detroit Tigers’ relief pitchers is stuck in the Dominican Republican on “immigration problems,” said Dave Dombrosky , the team’s president and general manager, last night during an ESPN broadcast of the Tigers humiliating 13-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

Last month, the Detroit News confirmed that Francisco Cruceta, one of the Tiger players acquired during the off-season, “ran into not only a visa holdup in trying to leave the Dominican Republic, he ran into visa captivity for reasons the State Department has not divulged. He never made it to spring training.” [The Foils To the Tigers’ Toils, Detroit News, March 29, 20008]

Why the Tigers would be in a hurry to get Crucetta, with his 10.05 MLB career ERA , is a mystery. But one hopes that this may mark the beginning of closer State Department scrutiny of visa applications from foreign-born players.

Evidence indicates that, like many other visa holders, baseball players don’t always return home when their time is up.

In my 2005 column about baseball and visa over-stayers, I quoted former Cincinnati Reds manager Ron Plaza:

“Out of 10 (Dominican players) who are released, I’d say nine stay here illegally. They would rather live in the worst areas of New York than go back home. You can’t handcuff them to the plane, so there is very little we can do.”

To the huge disappointment of Japanese fans and the Beantowners who paid $5,000 for a VIP package to fly to Tokyo, the Oakland Athletics bounced back this morning to beat the Boston Red Sox 5-1 in the second game of the two-game Globalism Opening Day Series.

This is sweet revenge for the A’s whose brass is irked that its second home game of the season, April 2nd against the same Red Sox, was moved from a night game to a day game at the request of the insufferable Sox players.The Red Sox claim it needs the extra travel time to readjust to eastern daylight time. But this is more nonsense from the pampered players since after returning home, the team has a full day off before playing a night game–essentially forty-eight hours–to rest up.

The switch from a night start to day eliminated a television date from the cash-poor A’s and angered the many local fans that bought tickets. But who in the “Red Sox Nation” would care about that?

Carping about travel is one more reason to laugh at the players. To hear them tell it, the experience is like taking a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Miami with a plane change in Houston instead of the charter airline comfort it really is. Someone packs their bags, the airport bus is waiting for them at their luxury hotel, the food is first class, etc.

Although Daisuke Matsuzaka was the focus of all the fan and media attention, what his start yesterday proved is that he can’t get much past the fifth inning even with a considerable hometown advantage.

In fact, Dice-K was out-pitched by both A’s starters, the comparatively obscure Joe Blanton and Rich Harden.

The truth about Dice-K is hard for many Sox fans—both here and in Japan— to come to grips with.

Here it is from ESPN announcer and Hall of Fame great Joe Morgan.

Last year, while I was listening to the World Series, Morgan in a moment of unusual candor said this about Matsuzaka:

“He’s not as good as the Red Sox thought he was.”

Matsuzaka isn’t responsible for the media frenzy that continues unabated despite his mediocre pitching. But it would be refreshing if sports reporters could tone down their enthusiasm to face the facts about Matsuzaka–he’s just another run-of-the-mill pitcher.

In baseball, globalism is king. If it hasn’t ruined the game, it’s altered it almost beyond recognition for this long-time fan.

The American Major League season is set to begin tomorrow in Japan at the Tokyo Dome when the Boston Red Sox will play the Oakland A’s.

Who could ever have imagined such a thing?

With a Tuesday 0300 PDT start, the A’s—my sort of hometown favorite—will play the World Champion Red Sox who are verging on surpassing the New York Yankees as the sport’s most obnoxious team. More on that in a few paragraphs.

Readily acknowledging that I am completely out of step with today’s baseball scene, I nevertheless recall with fondness that opening day, when I was a young man starting his professional career in New York, meant Yankee Stadium sitting in the spring sunshine, eating hot dogs and peanuts.

Had you told me forty years ago that baseball would throw its first pitch of 2008 in an indoor stadium in a foreign country with takoyaki (battered octopus nuggets) as the featured snack, I would have recommended you take a long rest.

The opening day mania centers around one of baseball’s most overrated and overpaid players—Japanese hero Daisuke Matsuzaka, the $100 million pitcher who failed to get past the fifth inning in four of his five post-season starts last fall. And in his fifth appearance, Matsuzaka could only went 5 1/3.

Enthusiasm for the local hero is understandable but any rational fan would have to admit that Matsuzaka’s rookie season in the U.S. fell far short of expectations.

Despite his obvious shortcomings, the local media refers to Matsuzaka as a “national treasure” and some reporters predict that the “gyro-ball expert” may no-hit the rebuilding, starless A’s. But baseball is a funny game. The A’s starting pitcher, Tennessee-born Joe Blanton, had a better 2007 than Matsuzaka, with his 14-10, 3.95 ERA (Matsuzaka, 15-12, 4.40) And the A’s, predictions of doom aside, won twice as many games as the Sox during spring training.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the A’s pull off a surprise victory? The Red Sox deserve to be embarrassed.

Even though the Red Sox has fifteen players who earn more than $2 million annually and has the second highest payroll in baseball, the team tried to cut the players, coaches and trainers out of a $40,000 bonus–chump change to them–they insisted upon for themselves as inducement to go to Japan.

This chintzy behavior from the same Red Sox that gave the overweight and over-the-hill Curt Schilling a $2 million “weight incentive” on top of his $8 million contract if he can keep his bloated bodyfrom ballooning out of all proportion.I haven’t figured out how fans can actually root for these guys–and the hundreds of major league players like them.

Most of you won’t be watching or listening to tomorrow’s game. But coincidentally I’ll be making a long drive to and from the airport early tomorrow morning so I’ll be following the action live. And my fingers will be crossed that the youthful and rebuilding A’s bomb Dice-K.

That might bring the Red Sox down to earth, at least for a few days.

Last night, as I watched the third game of the one-sided and mind numbingly dull World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies, I thought back to the to the 1960s when baseball was different—and better.

Because I had just finished reading Forbes Field: Memories and Essays of the Pirates Historical Ball Park, 1909-1971 by David Cicotello and Angelo Louisa, uppermost in my mind was the great 1960 World Series when the once-lowly Pittsburgh Pirates upset the mighty New York Yankees.

Until I enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh in 1961, my relationship with the Pirates was distant. I had grown up in Los Angeles where the Pacific Coast League Hollywood Stars, the minor league affiliate of the Pirates, were my team. By rooting for the Stars, fans automatically pulled for the Pirates.

In the late 1950s, my family moved to Puerto Rico where Pirate great Roberto Clemente played winter baseball. I followed Clemente’s team, the Santurce Cangrejeros. (Read Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero, by David Maraniss)
But avid baseball fan though I was, by the time I reached Pittsburgh, I had only seen one major league game. The Dodgers didn’t get to Los Angeles until after I left.

I was starved for baseball and, even though the 1961 Pirates were out of the running for most of the year, as soon as I got to college I headed for Forbes Field and what would be a lifetime’s worth of happy memories.

Authors Cicotello and Louisa have brought those recollections back home. Their book chronicles Forbes Field from its first days of construction in 1909 through the final game on June 28, 1970. The book includes a transcription of the last home game broadcast on KDKA by the immortal Bob Prince and his sidekick, Nellie King.

The second part of Forbes Field includes reminiscences from former players, managers, club officials and employees as well as several sports writers.

I wasn’t able to submit my own personal Forbes Field experiences in time to meet the publishing deadline. But I’ll recount them to you now.

Every September when classes started and each April and May as the school year wound down, my friends and I wandered over to Forbes Field, an easy walk from the university campus, and entered the left field bleachers during the sixth or seventh inning. By then, the ticket taker had gone home so we just waltzed in to catch the last of the game.

One might think that in September with classes beginning and football underway or in April with final exams and papers closing in that students would have other things to do (like study!) than watch an average baseball team play out the season’s string.

But Forbes Field and all the wonderful players on its field was irresistible.

No matter which team was in town, a Hall of Famer was on its roster.
When I think of the players I watched!

Among them, to name only a few, were the Cardinal’s Stan Musial, the New York Giants’ Willie Mays, the Phillies’ Robin Roberts, the Braves’ Hank Aaron and Warren Spahn, the Cubs’ Ernie Banks and the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.

Forbes Field is long gone, torn down 35 years ago. It was a wonderful old park filled with die-hard fans during baseball’s glory years.

But Forbes Field lives on.

Mention it in Pittsburgh and everyone lights up. Each year fans young and old gather at the site (a small portion of the brick wall left standing) where the Pirates’ Bill Mazeroski’s 1960 bottom of the ninth homer won the seventh game of the World Series, 10-9 for Pittsburgh’s beloved Buccos.

Peter Gammons is the leading baseball analyst on ESPN Television. Gammons, recently elected to the Baseball’s Hall of Fame, is also a king-size idiot.

Before Thursday’s second World Series game between the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies, Gammons was waxing poetic about the ever-increasing numbers of Latino baseball players.

He said that Dominicans play baseball “more intuitively” I have no idea what that means and if I could press Gammons on it, I’m sure he couldn’t explain it either.

Gammons also said, in a reference to his prediction that more foreign-born players wait in the wings, “everyone comes from somewhere.” This inane remark is obviously true. But what Gammons meant to convey is that he’s fine with baseball’s demographic shift…and we should be too.

As to Gammons’ “everyone comes from somewhere” statement, let’s take a look: at “who” comes from “where” on the Red Sox and the Rockies.

Boston Red Sox position players Jason Varitek, catcher and captain, Missouri; Kevin Youkilis, first base, Ohio; Dustin Pedroia, second base, California; Julio Lugo, shortstop, Dominican Republic, Mike Lowell, third base, Puerto Rico, Manny Ramirez, left field, Dominican Republic; center field, Coco Crisp, California and Jacoby Ellsbury, Oregon; right field, J.D. Drew, designated hitter, Georgia, David Ortiz, Dominican Republic.

Red Sox pitchers: top three starters, Josh Beckett, Texas; Curt Shilling, Alaska; Daisuke Matsuzaka, the $50 million bust , Japan. The bullpen closer: Jonathon Papelbon, Louisiana.

Whether you count Lowell as Latino or not, the Red Sox are overwhelmingly U.S, born.

As for the Colorado Rockies, the break down is much the same.

Position players: Yorvit Torrealba, catcher, Venezuela; Todd Helton, first base, Tennessee; Kazuo Matsui, second base, Japan; Troy Tulowitski, short stop, California; Garrett Atkins, third base, California; Matt Holliday, left field, Oklahoma; Willie Taveras, center field, Dominican Republic, Brad Hawpe, right field, Texas, designated hitter, Ryan Spilborghs, California.

Starting Colorado pitchers: Jeff Francis, Canada, Ubaldo Jimenez, Dominican Republic and Josh Fogg, Massachusetts. Bullpen closer: Manny Corpas, Panama.

Again, like the Red Sox, the Rockies are mostly American born, outnumbering Latin players nearly 2-1.

No one disputes that major league baseball has more Latino players than ever before. And given that those players are signed on the cheap, there are certain, as Gammons predicts, to be more.

But to suggest, as Gammons did, that Latin players are somehow genetically superior players is wrong, offensive and racist.

The probable American League Cy Young Award winner is Beckett; the National League Most Valuable Player is likely Holliday. And Tulowitski is the odds-on favorite to win Rookie of the Year. All are born in the U.S.

As for Gammons, he comes “from somewhere,” too—Boston, MA.

In April, at the beginning of the 2007 Major League Baseball season, I wrote a blog titled “Fenway Park, Boston, Land of the Rising Sun” about Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Boston Red Sox’s new pitching star from Japan.

At the time, Matsuzaka was by far baseball’s biggest story. The Red Sox had paid $50 million for the right to negotiate with him and $100 million more to sign him.

Management, fans and sport writers were convinced Matsuzaka was worth every dime. According to reports, Matsuzaka had not only the usual repertoire of pitches but he had two kinds of sliders, a fork ball and the never-before-seen
“gyro-ball” that was, admirers claimed, certain to baffle every hitter he faced.

Matsuzaka madness included a CD titled “Music From the Mound” that included as the first cut, “Gyro Ball, Dice-K.”

Now that October is here, it is clear that Matsuzaka fell way short of expectations. Last night at Fenway Park, Matsuzaka was bombed out of the second playoff game against the Los Angeles Angels after 4 2/3 innings during which he gave up seven hits and three runs.

Matsuzaka’s regular season record of 15-12 with a 4.40 ERA was average, at best. Down the September stretch, Matsuzaka pitched so poorly that the Red Sox considered dropping him from the play-off starting rotation.

The Boston Globe, in love with Masuzaka in the spring, wrote that his effort last night was “a $100 bust.”

Most interesting is that according Bobby Valentine, a former MLB manager currently managing in Japan, Matsuzaka has gone from hero to bum in his home country. Valentine had been an early Matsuzaka booster.

In an interview with ESPN, Valentine said that the Japanese expectations for Matsuzaka were so unrealistically high that whenever the young pitcher took to the mound, his countrymen were disappointed every time he failed to pitch a shut out.

The Red Sox say Matsuzaka is in a transitional year with better things sure to come. What else are they going to say?

But the reality is that Matsuzaka, with his indifferent performance, is in the eyes of New England’s rabid fans, just another player. And to many in Japan, he’s an embarrassment.

That’s too bad because Matsuzaka seems like a decent young man. And, after all, he didn’t generate all the hype.

But maybe Matsuzaka would have been better off personally if not financially had he stayed in Japan.

Two summers ago, I wrote a blog Baseball: American National Pastime Or Dominican? about the New York Mets as seen through the eyes of fawning New York Times reporter Jonathan Mahler in his piece “Building the Béisbol Brand” Summarized, Mahler wrote that the Mets’

“Latin-inflected style of play” under the direction of its Dominican-born general manager Omar Minaya would be the wave of baseball’s future. Mahler’s suggestion was that good players could only be found in the Dominican Republic—no mention of the thousands of talented players in NCAA baseball programs or on American sandlots and high school fields.

I took exception to virtually every word in Mahler’s article. And as baseball fans across America now know in light of the Mets’ complete fold (you can read the details in your local sport page—if you don’t know them already).

Forget about “Latin-inflected style of play.”

The phrases most often found in the four New York dailies to describe the Mets this morning are “historical collapse” and “complete choke”

In short, I was right and Mahler was wrong. Good baseball, the Times take to the contrary, is not unique to Dominicans, Cubans or Japanese.

High on the list of culprits for the Mets late season bust is Mahler’s favorite baseball front office executive, Minaya. The Daily News wrote: “The luster is certainly off Minaya.”

And in the same story fingers were pointed at Jose Reyes, Carlos Gomez and Endy Chavez for “inattentive play.” Gomez and Reyes are Dominican; Chavez is from Venezuela. [Seven Reasons Why the Mets Are Going Home, By Adam Rubin, New York Daily News, October 1, 2007]

Reyes was a complete flop at the end going 0-5 in the crucial last game and failing to run out simple ground balls.

A more useful account of what it will takes for winning baseball came from William C. Rhoden, a veteran Times sport columnist who, unlike Mahler, knows understands the sport.

Philadelphia Phillies’ general manager Pat Gillick told Rhoden that he once thought that talent was everything in a baseball player. Now, however, Gillick says he looks for “mental toughness, character, passion and the desire to win.” [For Mets, A Question of Talent or Character, William C. Rhoden, New York Times, October 1, 2007]

Minaya hasn’t learned that lesson. Gillick’s teams–this year’s Phillies and before that the Toronto Blue Jays (five time division and two time World Series champions) have been winners while Minaya’s have consistently come up short.

Following up on my most recent column about the Republican front-running Rudy Giuliani, let’s analyze two California pit stops he made this week in Del Mar and Anaheim to judge just how disinterested voters are in his candidacy.

During the same appearances, Giuliani revealed how insincere his so-called commitment to immigration reform is.

In Del Mar, a pathetically small crowd of 200 people showed up to listen to Giuliani even though he spoke at one of the most beautiful venues in California, the Del Mar Racetrack.

Del Mar, the heart of Ronald Reagan country, is thirteen miles due north of San Diego .

With San Diego’s population of nearly three million people, logic would dictate that more than 200 people would want to listen to the man who loves to be called “America’s Mayor.”

You could have found larger attendance at a Little League game. And with good reason–any baseball game, Little League or otherwise, would be vastly more entertaining than Giuliani.

What’s also interesting is that so few of the 4,500 Del Mar residents turned out.

Despite the fact that Del Mar is over 90 percent white and ultra-conservative Giuliani spoke only in passing about illegal immigration vaguely promising to end it. But in the same breath, Giuliani said that America is dependent on foreign labor. You know what that means: more guest worker programs!

In Anaheim, seventy miles up the road from Del Mar, Giuliani dodged questions about the role of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corp and called for expanding legal immigration.

What Giuliani’s ninth swing through California proves is that there is little grassroots interest in his campaign and that he is not trustworthy on immigration.

Even if Giuliani makes ninety California trips, he’ll never carry the state in the 2008 presidential election

Today is another beautiful day in sunny California. On any other Sunday morning at 8:00 A.M. PDT, I’d be sitting on my porch sipping coffee and perusing last night’s baseball box scores.

But on this particular day, I am “on assignment” for VDARE.COM.

Specifically, Peter Brimelow has asked me, as one of our editorial collective’s Democrats, to watch the debates in Iowa as long as I could do so “without throwing up.”I’m proud that I was able to carry out my task successfully. But it was ugly.

I’m not much of a Democrat but I do know that the candidates assembled in Iowa–Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson,–with their incessant self-promotion and non-stop talk about “change” is an unattractive group.

And the high praise they heaped on each other was revolting, too. I suspect the candidates have something quite different to say about their opponents when they are talking to their pillows.

Two observations that might have bearing: Obama is smoother than I expected. He got off the best line when he said that he prepared for the debate “by riding in the bumper cars at the state fair.”

And Clinton, who suggested in her opening remarks that she wasn’t quite awake, is shriller than I remembered. Maybe her voice wouldn’t sound so grating at a more civil hour.

The differences in their delivery might bode poorly for Clinton if comes down to a head-to-head match up between Obama and her.

And I hope this doesn’t sound too cynical but I was dismayed at the amount of time the candidates spoke about prayer and what its significance is to them.

Since the current White House occupant has claimed to take his direction from God and to have a special relationship with the Almighty, I would guess that religion might not be a big selling point in 2008. Of course, I could be–and probably am–wrong.

The ABC promo piece promised that the debate topics would range from “from Iraq to health care, from immigration to education.”

But in his opening remarks, host George Stephanopoulos didn’t mention immigration. And with good reason–the subject, which is the top domestic concern of Americans–never came up!

There was a little banter about trade. Clinton, who is all but married to the Indian outsourcing firm Tata Consulting Services, said with a straight face that she wants to “follow a pro-America trade policy.”

Her remark should have brought the house down but disappointingly it sailed over everyone’s head.

And education got the usual gloss-over: too many kids not graduating from high school…but no mention that they are predominantly Hispanic kids.

The good news for the Democrats–but not for Americans– is that whoever emerges from among these sad-sack candidates will face an equally sorry contender from the Republican side.

New York Yankee Hall of Fame shortstop Phil Rizzuto died earlier today.

Rizzuto was a childhood hero for many reasons, most obviously because of his Italian heritage. The “Scooter,” as Rizzuto was universally known, was also Joe Di Maggio’s roommate. DiMaggio was another hero of mine…at least until the darker side of his character was revealed.

During the course of the day, you’ll read many comments about what a great, down to earth guy Rizzuto was. Here’s my own experience.

Years ago, I was traveling to Boston. Coincidentally, the Yankees were playing the Red Sox. As I checked into the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Rizzuto was walking through the lobby. I approached him, told him that I had spent countless summer nights listening to him broadcast Yankee games and that his accounts of the games gave me more pleasure than I could express.

Rizzuto could have brushed me off after I had spoken my piece. Instead he engaged me in a long conversation about baseball in general and the Yankees specifically. And Rizzuto asked me questions about my family, my occupation and whether I was going to the game that night.

Although I had other plans, Rizzuto pulled out two tickets and gave them to me. And somehow it didn’t seem right not to use them so I went, compliments of “Scooter.”

I’ll confess that I wanted to ask him for his autograph but, you know, I was in my mid-30s. And after my visit with Rizzuto, I felt more like a friend than a fan.

Phil himself told my favorite Rizzuto story at his Hall of Fame induction. Talking about his early career in the Southern League, Rizzuto said he was served grits at his hotel breakfast. Rizzuto, who grew up in Brooklyn, had never seen grits. Not wanting to eat them but also not wanting to leave them on his plate, Rizzuto said: ” I put them in my pocket and walked out.” Phil’s story got a huge laugh.

For more of the same Rizzuto humor, read O Holy Cow!: The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto.